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Mortification
Mortification is an Australian Christian extreme metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released over twenty albums and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups. During the early 1990s Mortification played death metal, thrash, and grindcore, and "belonged to the elite of the death metal movement," especially with their 1992 album Scrolls of the Megilloth. After the departure of Sherlock, Mortification began experimenting with groove metal, hardcore punk and power metal. They achieved commercial success with Blood World in 1994 and received critically acclaim for 1996's EnVision EvAngelene. Despite the lack of subsequent commercial success or mainstream critical recognition, the band has maintained its status as "some kind of superstars in the Christian metal scene,"2 and have been described as "a legend in the death metal scene."3 In late 1996, Rowe was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukaemia and took 18 months to recover. Mortification issued their tenth album, Triumph of Mercy in August 1998 and accompanied it with a tour of North America. By August 1999, the band had sold a total of a quarter of a million albums across Europe and the US. They returned to their death/thrash roots for the 2004 album, Brain Cleaner. Band members ;Current members * Steve Rowe – vocals, bass (1990–present) * Lincoln Bowen – guitars (1996–2001, 2011–present) * Andrew Esnouf – drums (2011–present) ;Former members *Cameron Hall – guitars (1990) *Jayson Sherlock – drums (1990–1993) *Michael Carlisle – guitars (1991–1994) *Phil Curlis–Gibson – drums (1994) *George Ochoa – guitars (1994–1996) *Keith Bannister – drums (1996–1999) *Adam Zaffarese – drums (2000–2003, 2008–2011) *Jeff Lewis – guitars (2002) *Michael Jelinic – guitars (2002–2011) *Mike Forsberg – drums (2003–2005) *Damien Percy – drums (2005–2008) *Dave Kilgallon – drums (2008) *Troy Dixon – guitars (2011) Discography Studio albums *''Break the Curse'' (1990) *''Mortification'' (1991) *''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' (1992) *''Post Momentary Affliction'' (1993) *''Blood World'' (1994) *''Primitive Rhythm Machine'' (1995) *''EnVision EvAngelene'' (1996) *''Triumph of Mercy'' (1998) *''Hammer of God'' (1999) *''The Silver Cord is Severed'' (2001) *''Relentless'' (2002) *''Brain Cleaner'' (2004) *''Erasing the Goblin'' (2006) *''The Evil Addiction Destroying Machine'' (2010) * Scribe of the Pentateuch (2012) Live albums *''Live Planetarium'' (1993) *''Noah Sat Down and Listened to the Mortification Live EP While Having a Coffee'' (1996, EP) *''Live Without Fear'' (1996) *''10 Years Live Not Dead'' (2000) *''Live Humanitarian'' (2006) Compilation albums *''The Best of Five Years'' (1996) *''Ten Years 1990 - 2000 Power, Pain, and Passion'' (2002) Bootlegs *''Australia Live'' (1992) *''Distarnished Priest'' (1995) *''Live Planetarium 2'' (1995) *''Triumph of Mercy'' (1998) *''Conquer The Stump'' (2003) *''Total Thrashing Death'' (2004) Other appearances *''Death Is Just The Beginning Vol. 2 1993 Scrolls of the Megilloth - Mortification (previously unreleased) *''Nuclear Blast Presents! Summer Blast 1994'' *''Hot Metal V: Screaming Truth'' ::Track 7- An interview with Mortification ::Track 8- Distarnish Priest *''Godspeed: Australian Metal Compilation- Time Crusaders (Studio Demo Version)'' *''Tourniquet/Mortification collector's edition CD single'' ::Track 9- Your Life ::Track 10- J.G.S.H. ::Track 11- Love Song ::Track 12- A Short Interview with Steve Rowe on the History of Mortification Videos *''Metal Missionaries'' (1991, video) *''Grind Planets'' (1993, video, 55 minutes) *''The History of Mortification'' (1994, video) *''Live Planetarium'' (1994, video, 60 minutes) *''EnVidion'' (1996, video, 60 minutes) *''Conquer The World'' (2002, DVD, 95 minutes) *''Grind Planets Reissue'' (2005, DVD, 89 minutes) *''Live Planetarium'' (2006, DVD, 90 minutes) External links * Official Home Page of Mortification Category:Australian bands Category:Death metal bands Category:Thrash metal bands Category:Bands